To Be a Summoner
by AwesomeTrinket
Summary: Lillian is your ordinary nerd: an unfriendly girl to other people and is obsessed with Summoner's War, to the point where she imagines her monsters are living with her. On summer vacation, though, she's going to learn that she's not the only one who can see monsters...and she'll have to get along with the ones who can see if she wants to save the world from the bosses of the game!
1. Chapter 1 - Prepping for Battle

**Chapter 1  
Prepping For Battle**

Waking up in the morning is both the worst and the best part of the day. Today it was the worst because I was snapped out of my dreams and the best because today was the first day of summer vacation. School was out, my family and my best friend's family are going to be spending the summer in a condo that they were renting for the summer (In Virginia Beach, too!), and I had more time to play Summoner's War.

I shuffled my way over to the closet and opened it up, looking for my Daily Reward. I closed my eyes and pulled something off the hangers. Upon opening them I learned it was a blue sundress. 10,000 mana; barely enough for one rune power-up. _Can't wait until I get those sweet 50 summoning stones and can try for Galleon again_ , I thought to myself as I pulled off my nightgown and slipped the sundress on. It felt light and swished against my bare legs.

I quickly made my bed and unplugged my tablet, throwing the charger into my satchel. I headed over to the kitchen; it was time for my daily wish from the Temple of Scams. My dad was in the dining room, talking to my mom, who was in the kitchen. He was eating an almond croissant – looks like he got a Gold King Angelmon. _Wonder what I'll get._

"Morning, Lillian!" Mom cooed. About ten suitcases rested near the living room doorway. We finally finished packing last night, and with great effort dragged them all over to the living room, where we could grab them when it was time to go to Virginia. We lived in a nice suburban town in Maryland, so Virginia was just a few hours' drive away.

"'ey Mom." I muttered, pulling open the fridge. What was I going to land on this time? There wasn't really much to choose from; we made sure that we emptied out the fridge before our vacation. I spied a leftover slice of apple pie and pulled it out. Apple pie is my favorite.

"Can I have this for breakfast?"

"Of course." Mom smiled at me as she says this. Nice, scored me 150 crystals; a lot better than what I was expecting. My Colleen eyed it suspiciously.

"You eat way too much apple pie, Lillian. You're gonna get yourself fat." She says to me. I liked to pretend that my monsters were living with me in real life; they could faze in and out of my reality at will and I could faze in and out of their reality at will. Of course, only I was the one who can see and hear them in real life - or so I thought.

I shrugged at Colleen's comment as I unwrapped the cellophane covering the pie and grabbed a fork. I stabbed into the crust and thick gel, shoving the forkful that was dislodged into my mouth. The taste of apples filled my tongue, the cold pie practically melting as it met up with my body heat. It was the best thing ever. Anavel looked horrified.

"Oh my GOD, Lillian; at least microwave that!" She shrieked, snapping her umbrella shut.

"Can't; don't got the time to." I said to her after swallowing the first bite of pie. Mom would have been confused, but she and Dad accepted a while ago I never grew out of my "imaginary friends"

"Eh, you know how Lillian is." Lapis sighed, resting her chin on her hand. Her blade was in her free hand, as always. Ever since the Paladins were released, I found a lot more uses for Lapis. Now that she had two skills that decreases attack bars, she was perfect for Trial of Ascension and DB10. "Besides, I hear Virginia Beach's great. Don't wanna get on her bad side and get banned from coming to her reality."

I eventually finished the pie, my Energy sufficiently refilled as I placed the plate and the fork into the sink. "Thanks Mom." I said to her as I headed on over to the living room, sitting down. I glanced at the clock: 8:45 A.M.; just enough time to get some of my daily quests done. I closed my eyes and breathed. When I opened them, I wa back at my island. Sunlight streamed down on everyone, monsters roaming about calmly.

"Good morning, everyone!" I shout from where I'm at; in front of the Arena Defense tower. I heard a few monsters shouting the greeting back. Ellia walks over to me, looking sharp as always with her blonde hair tied up and clipboard in hand.

"Morning, Lillian!" She chirps. "Today's the day you, your family and your best friend's family are going to be driving to Virginia to stay in that condo!" Ellia was kind of like my secretary. She managed rune power-ups, my schedule, and told me about all the latest events going on.

"Sure is. Got a few minutes to myself, though, and I can do some stuff until then. What's the most important thing I can do in five minutes?" I asked. She flipped through the papers in the clipboard.

"Loren's requested some power-ups on rune slots 1, 2, and 5." Loren was the newest addition to my island. She's the light Cow Girl; I snagged two copies of her when I got lucky and found her Secret Dungeon. One of them was going to be used in fusing Jeanne, despite what I've heard about her. I could use someone like her without having to waste three spots in Trial of Ascension for Neal, Ahman and Kai'en.

I headed over to where I last placed Loren. She was on my third island, resting near the Monster Storage, pistols in hand. She tilted her cowgirl hat up and squinted at me; that bandage was still on the bridge of her nose, I note. I smiled and waved at her, and she reciprocated.

"Eyyy, look who came to visit us!" She said. She has your typical cowgirl accent, though I swear that sometimes I can hear her switch to an Australian accent when she thinks I'm not listening.

"Hey, Loren!" I briefly checked her stats. Level 35, awakened, ready to evolve, and Violent with Revenge as her rune set. The runes she wanted powered up were a Violent rune and both Revenge runes.

"Alright, which rune do you want me to start with?"

"Slot 1. The +11's been buggin' me for hours now." It was the Violent rune. After nine failures, the tenth power-up was successful. I get a max roll into CRIT Damage% and fist-pump. I would have powered up her Revenge runes too had it not been time to go already.

"Well, looks like I gotta go." I said. "Don't worry, I'll power up your runes in Virginia." As I reopened my eyes, I was back in the living room and check the clock. Shoot; I had to go _now._

I struggled to grab my three luggage pieces: a duffel bag, a rolling suitcase, and my satchel. I take my satchel everywhere with me ever since I got my tablet. It fits just like a glove and I still have room for its charger. My parents were also struggling with their luggage inside as I managed to stumble out the door and to the car. Immediate relief washed through me as I popped open the already unlocked trunk and slide the duffel bag in. That was a successful rune power up and ten pounds off my shoulders already.

"Well well well, look who's finally here!" A voice that wasn't my best friend's chuckles at me. I looked up. Oh, it was Bryson, my neighbor's son. At 13, he almost lit his school on fire, at 15 he was a high school dropout. He likes to pretend he's tough, but cries like a baby at the drop of a hat.

"Ugh, do you _ever_ give up, Gready?" I huffed. I wanted a real challenge, the Arena Rivals were getting too easy and all I've been getting were weak defenses.

"Did you just call me greedy?" He growled as I attempt to haul my suitcase into the trunk and fail. He wasn't a Summoner, so he didn't understand when I turned on my Summoner-mode.

"Alright, fine, which rival do you want to be? Razak? Taihan? Shai? Volta? You're not getting Kellan or Kian, though; they have good monsters but even they are too easy, so don't even think about it." He started harassing me, now visibly confused by all my terminology. I didn't have time for him. Luckily for me, my best friend Karen came to the rescue before I could sick Teshar on him.

"Leave her alone already, Bryson; she's an unrecognized genius." Karen was my age. Her dark hair contrasted against her pale skin, freckles splashed underneath her eyes. With enough bugging, he finally went away.

"Yeesh, sorry you had to deal with Gready over there." Karen said to me. Like me, she was also a Summoner and talked in Summoner's War terminology. I shrugged calmly. It was a wonder how someone like me actually had a friend, much less a best friend; I was more content to bury my face in my tablet and imagine myself as part of a world where runes were armor and you could have a literal archangel as your pet. Karen and I bonded over our love for Summoner's War and tendency to pretend our monsters were living in our reality.

"Eh. He's about as tough as the actual Gready." We laugh a bit at how pathetic Gready's arena defense was: Ursha, Shailoq, Lindermen, and Konamiya? They don't even synergize well!

"How's Iris doing?" I could see the monsters of people who I knew played Summoner's War, but only monsters I knew they owned. Iris, for example, was at Karen's side. She looked just like Lapis, except for different color scheme, and she was sobbing dramatically.

"It's _horrible!_ " Iris squealed. "How could they take away my 100% chance to strip beneficial effects?! Now I'm _useless!_ _Useless_ I tell you!" Iris still hadn't gotten over her recent buff, just like Karen's Laika.

"Oh, she's still great, but she thinks she's useless." Karen noticed my struggling as I failed to power up rune after rune.

"Need any help with that?"

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks. You know how my mom packs." With our strength combined, the rune power-up was successful and both my bags were in the trunk. Eventually we got all my family's bags in the trunk and we were ready to go. Little did I know that one of the hardest Trial of Ascension stage awaited us at the first gas station we stopped at...


	2. Chapter 2 - Pit Stop to the Trial

**Chapter 2  
Pit Stop to the Trial**

After an hour of driving, our cars stopped at the nearest gas station – it was evident both our families forgot to buy an energy refill ahead of time before they started the journey to Virginia. I exited the car, stretching out my legs. It smelled terrible in the station.

I covered my nose, and as I looked to my left, I saw that Lulu had done the same. She looked adorable with her large blue hat pushed down over her face to try and mask the smell of gasoline. It burned my lungs bad enough; imagine what it would do to a tiny little Howl like Lulu.

"You can head on over to the convenience store and buy something _small_ if you want." Mom told me, emphasizing the word "small" I remembered that one time Anavel convinced me to buy as much candy as I could get. It was like Halloween in January, but my parents weren't too happy.

Lulu floated by my side as the convenience store doors slid open. She quickly readjusted her hat back onto her head and clutched her wand. The Howl was still a little shy, having been summoned just last week but she took great comfort in being near me. To be honest, I like being near her too, even if she doesn't talk at all; not yet, anyway. The sound of people pushing past one another filled our ears, and Lulu hid behind me.

"Don't worry, Lulu." I reassured her. "We're going to grab something and we'll be right out the door before you know it. I'll even share my loot with you guys."

The first stage of the Trial of Ascension began. I made my way past everyone, but in front of me were five teenaged girls, all of which teasing each other as they "umm" and "ahh" over what they wanted to buy. Three Julies and two Sophias. I myself have their fire sister, Clara, who I nicked in her Hall of Heroes.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am – " I tried to say. My attack was cut off short by Sophia using Spinning Slash.

"Wait your turn, little girl!" She huffed. It was obvious her HP is full; at any other time she can't do a thing to my attack bar. I was going to have to somehow find a way to survive this.

 _I could try and use my cleave team to push through them,_ I thought, _but that would be like Jojo or Liebli using Surprise Bomb on us all without a cleanser on my team; a disaster waiting to happen._ The only way to prevent such a disaster is to stun the bomber before the disaster happened. The only way to do that was…

 _No._ I briefly said to myself; for a second my internal voice did not sound like mine but like Artamiel's. _That's rude, cruel, and it probably won't even work…_

 _But what if it did?_ My internal voice now sounded like Fermion's. _You might as well try, Lillian dear._ I pretended that my good and my bad sides were Artamiel and Fermion, both trying to sway me to go their own path.

I momentarily contemplated which side to take, and Fermion won. The cheat code to Trial of Ascension was the stun debuff, after all. The dark archangel's influence whirled inside of me, and a malicious gleam shone in my eyes. I opened my mouth, and a torrent of cruelty came out, like Leo's second skill.

"Oh, just stop giggling amongst yourselves and pick something already." I growled, drawing their attention. "Besides, it'll just add to those apple-like bodies of yours."

I realized what I said and how rude it sounded and I power walked through the now stunned Pierrets. I felt regret, but the thought of apologizing was out of the question. That was something you couldn't take back. I didn't like myself that much when I was unnecessarily cruel.

 _Oh, that was_ wonderful _, Lillian._ Fermion purred in my head. Artamiel was strangely silent, but I suppose it was because he knew that he didn't need to scold me. Chloe was by my side now, and she looked disgusted. She lightly slapped the back of my head. It stung a little and became hot as I rubbed it.

"You're a horrible person, Lillian!" She snapped. "Those poor girls…You need to learn to be nicer." I sighed and shook my head.

"I know, Chloe. I know…"

"What would your parents say if they heard that? They would wake up Shoti!" While us humans said "they'd raise Cain," monsters said "they'd wake up Shoti" who was the fire Homunculus, his other forms Erith (water) and Koita (wind). When the war ended and the Sky Arena was created, Shoti was decided to be the cause of the war, and to keep another war from starting, he was sealed away in a rift between worlds.

Chloe straightened her white and pink robes, staff clutched in her hands. She was strict at times but kind, ready to shield and heal everyone in her team. Though she was like a second mother in all the ways people like and don't like their mothers, I did very much like Chloe. _Perhaps I'll fuse Katarina to be her friend soon…_

I passed through shelves of food and whatnot, Chloe following to make sure I wasn't cruel to anyone else. _What did I want to buy?_ That was the question in my mind. There were so many things I could get, but which one of them would be the best for me?

The smell of fried chicken was to my left, but I wasn't _that_ hungry; I didn't need an extra 50 energy. To my right was a counter that held a coffee machine with creamers and sugars. In a few months pumpkin spice was going to be an option on the machine, I thought to myself.

I pondered getting a cup of coffee; that would still be an option. Devilmon are some of the rarest resources in the game, after all. The lights hung overhead, far too bright and reflecting off the tiled floors. At times the glare caught my eyes and I had to momentarily stop to let the afterimage fade away.

I could hear dogs barking, and I realized I was close to the second stage: Three Roaqs and two Verdehiles. Roaq could be a challenge – he's the only Inugami to sometimes attack more than once with his first skill, and if an enemy dies he'll get another turn. Verdehile would be even worse: each attack increases his enemy's attack bar by 20% if he lands a critical hit, which means more chances for Roaq to kill one of my team members.

"Prepare yourself, Lillian!" Lapis shouted, now at my side. I flinched; not expecting her to have her voice raised so close to my ear. The battle that ensued was…not pleasant, to say the least, but eventually I stumbled out and continued my journey in the Trial of Ascension. At last I spied the candy rack and rushed over to it, Lulu trailing behind.

My favorite chocolate bar was there – the last one, too; my prize waiting for me. I reached out, ready to refill my crystal storage once more, but alas, it was not that easy. I had gotten through both stages of Trial of Ascension, but the bosses were waiting for me.

Before my hands could touch the bright red plastic, two little girls stepped in front of me, cute but stubborn as all get out. Both were wearing swimsuits; I didn't know why, we hadn't even passed the Virginia border yet. It was at that moment I realized what Trial of Ascension stage I was at.

"Hey, I called dibs on it first!" One little girl said to me, brown hair tied up into pigtails. It was Charlotte; the wind Occult Girl.

"Me too!" Charlotte's sister, Lora, said before I could interject. That's the third attack bar reset that morning. Curse you, Baretta. I realize now I could have gone a different path and gotten something else; but this is 300 crystals we're talking about. Besides, I wasn't going to back down from a challenge.

Of course, it was going to be difficult to get my 300 crystals – this _was_ the Lora and Charlotte stage, after all. As of a few buffs ago, Charlotte had become one of the best attack bar decreasing monsters you could get. I remember how when the buff first came out, the chat was flooded with someone shouting, over and over again "CHARLOTTE BEST GURL." While she may be great when you own her, dealing with her and her light sister in Trial of Ascension was _not_ great; especially at stages 50 and over.

 _Alright, Lillian, you've got this._ I tell myself. _Defeat Lora and Charlotte and get your candy._ I decided I would try and use Kai'en to tempt them into being distracted from the candy. While he was only four stars and wasn't supposed to get any runes, it was worth a shot.

"Hey, Lulu and I would really like the KitKat." I said to them. "If you like, I can buy you something else of your choosing instead of it."

" _No,_ " Lora huffed, crossing her little arms, "we decided _we_ want it and nothing else!" Shoot, the Provoke was resisted. _Maybe I could try lowering their guards?_ Anavel is at my side, ready to summon her guardian angel. _If I could break their defenses, I could sneak by them and grab it before they recognize what happened…_

I straighten up and furrow my brows, squinting at something behind the candy rack. "What is that?" I mutter to myself, hoping they would take the bait. As they look away, I snap out of it and snatch the chocolate bar from the rack. I half walked, half ran away. I dashed out, but not before Fermion took control for a second.

"You're all too slow!" I shouted, not realizing that both girls were about to summon their guardian angels. As I fumbled around in my wallet like a snail, I heard their voices calling for the guardian angels:

"Mom!"

"Dad!"

 _Oh no._ I was too slow to get out of the store before the guardian angels appear. I hope that I can dash out in record time before they do appear. Lora's guardian angel would increase both her and Charlotte's defense while destroying me with strength based on her HP and break everyone's attack on top of all of that, and Charlotte's guardian angel would completely obliterate me and my team without even giving me a chance to speak; if I did get a chance to speak, my words would land as glancing hits and would be ineffective no matter what.

"Will that be all?" The cashier asks me.

"Yes, of course." I hurriedly replied. As the two angels stride to the girls' rescue, I take the candy and let out a rushed "okaythat'sallitwasnicetalkingtoyoubye" as I dash out. As the doors slide shut, I inhaled deeply, never been so happy to smell gasoline before. Though the lead up and the battle were stressful, it was worth it for the prize. I cracked the red wrappers open, sliding the two conjoined chocolate bars out.

They easily snapped in two and I offered one to Lulu, who gladly eats it. The taste of chocolate filled my tongue, and I knew that no matter what anyone said, the battle was worth the prize, though I still felt regret for how rude I was earlier. I finished the candy just as my parents' energy was done refilling, and we were ready to go again.

 _You'll learn to be nicer on your summer vacation, Lillian._ Artamiel whispered in my head. _I cannot tell you how, I must keep your future intact, after all; but I know you'll have to learn along the way._ I smiled; leaning on the car window and watching the gas station pull away into the horizon behind me.

 _We'll see, Artamiel._ I said to him.


End file.
